This book is intriguing from a historical perspective, but it also reminded me of those parents in the fifties who thought that rock n' roll was the "devil's work". According to Turn Off Your Mind, it's like some sort of conspiracy theory story and although it tries to focus on the "dangerous" things about the Sixties like LSD and promiscuity, it ends up rambling on about things that just aren't that harmless, like music, horror films and tarot cards.

"The Empire Strikes Back at the Sixties"The subject is fascinating and needs more attention, but Lachman has an ax to grind. Is he disgruntled or just out for a buck? His criticism of the book "The Morning of the Magicians" in reality applies to THIS book. It is "badly researched, poorly documented and full of inaccuracies". Lachman's book is written in a superficial tabloid conspiracy buff style. You may recognize a phrase here, a phrase there, lifted from others.Lachman makes the most tenuous [...]

This book is phenomenal, to start the author comes at us not from perspective that is necessarily Pro-Occult or believing it, but leaves that to the reader, he simply gives us what others believe and shows us the effects of those beliefs on certain high-profile individuals and the culture around them.If you had ever been exposed to the "meat and potatoes" of the Occult, this author will surprise you as he lays down names who you would not have known would have been associated with these darker n [...]

In the vein of Colin Wilson's The Occult but with a much more limited scope, this book is a decent comprehensive look at the occult underpinnings of the 1960s counterculture in the west. While the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Donovan and Kenneth Anger do get a look in (though not until about page 300 or so), Lachman is principally interested in literature and ideas, and so the book is weighted far more heavily in its coverage of pulp horror writers, fringe philosophers and iconic occultists (think M [...]

Turn Off Your Mind. When I first saw this title on the shelves my immediate thought was that it was a play on Leary's famous "turn on, tune in, drop out" quote. And yes, it is a play on that 60's mantra, but it also strikes a deeper chord. To relinquish conscious thought, awareness, to give way to feeling, the irrational; this is when perception is at it's maximum. At least that's what the little man that lives under my bed told me. With Turn Off Your Mind, Gary Lachman has written a history of [...]

Like Halbestramm's 'The Fifties' blows the lid off the quiet, sunshiny myth of that decade, this one blows the lid off the Summer of Love. It's amazing how the Satanic Church, Charles Manson, Jayne Mansfield, Mia Farrow, John Lennon, Mick Jagger and Tim Leary all cross paths in the dark alleyways of the late 60's and early 70's but they were all there and some paid more of a price than others.

The value of this book lies in the fact that you can read book after book, watch documentary after documentary about the 1960's counterculture and the psychedelic drug movement and hardly see anything but a passing reference to the occult. You can read book after book that devotes a fair amount of space to Timothy Leary, without any reference to his increasing identification with the cause of Aleister Crowley. I think this book seeks to remedy that "oversight".On at least one occasion the author [...]

While Lachman's book has its share of howlers, misstatements,gaffes and typos, it is nevertheless a fascinating and eminently readable look at the disproportionate influence pseudo-mystics, hucksters and charismatic psychopaths wielded in the quest for altered states of consciousness in the 1960s. Lachman is no prude, but one comes away with a sense that sincere seekers after enlightenment frequently ended up with bad trips, bad counsel, and bad debt. It is hard to imagine how sociopaths like Ch [...]

Turn Off Your Mind tells all about the philosophies, drugs, charismatic leaders, magic, and mayhem of the 1960s. This book describes the influence of "the occult" and black magic on the minds and behaviors of many of the era's primary cultural figures. It's an interesting and educational readr a while. The problem is that the author delves into too much minutiae, and all the stories have the same theme and outcome. It's basically a collection of short biographies of iconic figures and their invo [...]

Somewhat disappointed in this one. I've read a few of Lachman's other books and really enjoyed them yet this one felt contrived and redundant. The subject matter is fascinating and I believe Lachman did his best but ultimately it was less than brilliant.

Intriguing tour of occult influences on '60s rockers and other countercultural figures. The author is a former and founding member of the new wave group Blondie. The writing is a lucid pulp style, a la Colin Wilson, influence and friend of the author.

MICK JAGGER IS A CLEAR SPIRITUAL DESCENDANT OF ALEISTER CROWLEY BECAUSE HE WORE A HAT.This book was pretty silly and frivolous, but pretty rollicking. It's also a good prop if you're reading it on a beach or anywhere else where you or others might be in the process of mind off-turning.

I picked up this book because of an interview I heard with the author. During the course of the podcast, the author was very sharp, had a clear understanding of the history of thought, and was very articulate and challenging. I was looking forward to anything he wrote.However, this book is a mess. It jumps from topic to topic and seems to focus more on gossip and the rumored intimate lives of key players than with anything resembling a thesis. It is also badly in need of an editor. On the plus s [...]

Ok book, nothing amazing. It reads like a rambling, broad overview of the occult in pop culture as told through "mini-encyclopedia summaries". Read in 2017, these summaries feel dated and rarely deliver any treasures of information that couldn't be found online within a few minutes of typing. Between the shallow, repetitious references to acid, acid, acid, were several chapters that just didn't interest me at all. The final chapters feel rushed and weakly touch on the new age '80s & '90s. Un [...]

Amid all the other revolutions that happened in the 1960s - sexual, social and political - another revolution took place that has been overlooked by historians. A revival of the occult affected all parts of daily life, from the Beatles’ journey into psychedelia to the movie Rosemary’s Baby to the novel Steppenwolf.There have always been those interested in the idea of secret knowledge only available to a select few, including ancient civilizations and lost races. Such interests became popula [...]

Gary Lachman has a very strong interest in esoteric philosophies, having published several books on such matters. I was fortunate to read this, a critical history of some of the darker aspects of occultism as practiced by prominent persons during the sixties, before reading any of those books and forming a prejudice against him for being too credulous or unsophisticated. He is, at least, someone whose moral sense trumps his fascinations.This is not a scholarly book, nor does it require much of t [...]

It's a Gary Lachman book. If you know what that means you know enough. The former drummer from Blondie, Gary Lachman is one of the more literate and careful researchers into the occult. He never offers up what you'd expect; he is often surprisingly sympathetic to people you might think he'd mock and bored with traditional angles on his subject. This isn't his best book -- that title Goes to Ouspensky: The Genius in the Shadow of Gurdjief -- but it's not bad.

A well researched and entertaining read. I do feel like Lachman could have wrapped it up in a smoother manner. Throughout the entire book there were constant references to many obscure occultists, even up to the last passages. As much as I enjoyed reading detailed accounts of Crowley, Gurdijeff, the Church of the Process, and the Manson family, by the end of the book, it was definitely time for it all to culminate. But instead, Lachman continued to spew more and more information.

An amazing history of where we've beenAs a child of the 60s , this incredible book really spoke to me. In pulling back the facade of that increasingly, superficial age, Lachman shows us the inanity of some of our most iconic cultural heroes. They are shown, as a reflection of us all, to be lost and searching in a large Universe without meaning.

Full disclosure: the subject matter of this book -- consciousness studies, the occult, film, art, rock and roll and 1960s (pop)culture -- are all WAY up my alley in terms of personal interests. Prejudices aside, this is still an excellent and thorough book. I'll update this review later, because there is just so much to say.

It was more like a trench that is very wide and not very deep. A solid overview of a weird time which really makes you think about the general psyche of the US at that time. I found the book to be somewhat sensationalised at times, but all together an entertaining read if you have any interest in 60's culture. Tons of books (which I still need to read) referenced in this book too.

Some of the detailed chronology of the publishing history of various authors seems unnecessarily thorough the reader only needs to know that the works were available in the sixties and what the mystical/occult content was and how it influence the counter culture. Noticed a couple of factual errors but it is a very wide reaching study. Along with Colin Wilson's The Occult a good place to start.